𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖋𝖆𝖍

I was at my desk with a bunch of metal scraps scattered in front of me when people began posting at prom.

It took me double-checking the date three times to realise that it was, in fact, a three, and I had missed it. I already knew Lily was not going to let this go, she'd helped me look for a dress after all.

She insisted greatly and took me to her favourite clothes shop which was literally a crack in the wall, I had no idea how she found it. It sold clothes with beautiful patterns that were hand-stitched and embroidered by an adorable Nigerian woman who was excited to strip me down and help Lily look for something to put on me.

Together, they came up with a lovely dark blue dress with intricate embroidery that made you gasp when you got closer and a corset that required me to stop eating for at least the day before to get into. I loved it.

Lily made me promise I'd call her to help with my hair that I still hadn't gotten around to tucking in a new hairstyle and swear that I wouldn't give up her shop to anyone. I agreed, of course, considering I had forgotten how to get there an hour after we left.

I let my mind brainstorm excuses to give her while I aimlessly scrolled through my peer's social media. My heart softened at the pure joy on their faces, I wondered if they noticed someone was missing.

If they did, I doubted they knew it was me.

If they were posting now, it meant the event had started a long time ago, yet my phone remained quiet, not a single missed call in my logs besides the pizza guy who left an hour ago. It wasn't their fault, not completely at least. It's not like I had ever been friendly or open to making new friends even before...

My fingers slipped and suddenly I was on her page, like I'd hoped there was a new post from the last time I'd checked. Unlike everyone else's hand-taken pictures, she had a sponsored photoshoot, wearing a dress that was an archive piece from some niche luxury brand. It was gold and covered in enough rhinestones that even behind a camera lens, she looked like she was glowing.

There was nothing else posted, however, which surprised me because one thing about her? Cher hated living in the moment. She's the one who convinced me to get all of my cameras and used them so much they might as well have been hers. She recorded all our time together, from the time I helped her cut her bangs to me in the hospital when I had mumps.

There was once a time that I was on her page so much you'd think it was my account. I'd ask her if she ever thought it was too much and she'd laugh and brush it off without a second thought. She used to say it made me more human, everyone else thought I was some stoic robot devoid of emotion and she just wanted to show them I was just as lively as the average person.

She didn't know it was she who brought it out of me.

Now her page was her behind a professional camera; musical performances, model work, pottery highlights and other carefully curated shots that had so many activities you'd get tired just going through them. 

A girl worthy of being noticed by the Gods.

As if knowing I was watching, she posted something new, it was a repost from one of her friends. A guy I'd never spoken to but had glared at me more times than I could count. In the short clip, he had her thrown over his shoulder and she was squealing as he held down her short floral white skirt to avoid it flapping in the wind.

He turned around to show her face, which was red from being upside down, and when she saw the camera, she laughed and covered it with her hand, which is when the video cut. I rewatched it almost seven times before my eyes found the familiar street lamp in the back and my fingers began to inch for my car keys.

I found myself staring at the hideous cat plant pot as the girl in front of me wrote her name across my chest.

How I get myself in these situations? I didn't know.

When I watched Cher's account and saw her outfit, I hadn't thought much of it; she wore white a lot. I didn't expect to arrive at a house filled with people in white shirts—well, shirts that had once been white. The whole point of this party was for the student body to sign each other's shirts, which would have been cute if I hadn't been wearing my favourite grey top.

Maybe I would have known if I had read our group chat.

People I hardly recalled meeting and girls I didn't remember sleeping with had dragged me in all directions in an attempt to sign me and, in return, get me to sign them. It made me happy that they seemed glad to see me, that they didn't wonder who invited me. It almost made up for the fact that they would've been just as happy if I hadn't come.

The art committee had their clutches on me now, a boy had put a hand covered in blue paint on my back and a girl had insisted I dipped both my hands in bright pink paint and leave my mark by holding up her tits and leaving a stain there. I did it, of course, completely amused by her, but I hadn't expected my eyes to lock with Cher's as I was peeling my hands off Sky's body.

"Okay guys, time for a quick game and it happens to be everyone's favourite one too!"

I turned my eyes to the women's basketball captain, a tanned girl with loose brown curls and a microphone in her hand. She also had a really good tongue, I would know. I tried to pay attention to the rules as she loosely explained them, her voice shaky from the alcohol she'd probably taken.

My eyes trailed over to Cher, the only person in the room not covered in markers and highlighters. In fact, she was even wearing a dark red shirt to stop that specifically. She had a black marker in her hand and was inching towards some tall guy who lifted up his shirt when her hand got near, she rolled her eyes but signed his abs, regardless.

I found a frown forming on my face as I watched Imani approach her from behind and put her hand on her shoulder. My line of sight was cut off, however, by a body standing in front of me with a bowl of what looked like cards in it. "Take one," He told me, shaking the bowl obnoxiously.

I blinked and reached for one, "Then what?"

He didn't seem to care to explain to me and walked off to the next group of people who were quick to snatch up a card for themselves, but they all burst into groans when they flipped them over. "Confused?" Sky asked me, throwing her hand over my shoulder.

"Very," I admitted, embarrassed that I was that distracted.

She took the card from my hands and turned it over, "Good for you, you didn't get it," She nodded before handing it back to me. It was Joker, the card was a bit faded and crumbled but still had a very pretty design on it.

"Get what?" I asked before someone yelling out and shooting their hand in the air cut me off.

"Ace!"

It was the school fool, and that was putting it lightly. He had the potential to be hot actually, but maybe if he shut up a day in his life and took a shower, he'd be at least presentable. The only reputation he had was always having the best weed on campus and I suspect he was stealing it from his parent's stash considering they were big-time farmers.

He flipped over his card to reveal the Ace of Spades, and the boys began to hoot and holler. "So I'm guessing the Ace is a good thing?" I commented, watching him walk through people to disappear behind a door.

"Depends," she sighed, taking a swing of her beer, "If you like spending fifteen minutes in a stuffy closet with a complete stranger."

The next Ace was announced, this time it was a girl who I recognized as being a bench warmer on the volleyball team. She was a sweet girl but looked absolutely mortified as she was dragged by her friends to the closet where she was promptly shoved in before someone started a timer on their phone.

"I almost feel bad for her," I laughed, dropping my card into the empty bowl that was now being passed around. 

"Don't," Sky shook her head, "She knew what she was getting into."

I looked at her hands, realizing she'd never taken one, "You don't participate?" 

She shivered, "Last time I shagged Elias, never again."

We began to sway to the music again, I even took her bottle and took a small swing of it to unwind a little. I was definitely enjoying myself a lot more than at the last party, probably due to the fact that this one wasn't thrown by Curtis, who I was glad to not have seen so far.

Against my will, my eyes looked for the tall girl in the bloody top and, like always, they found her. And, like usual, they found mine too. Imani seemed to be talking her ear off and not about something she looked like she cared about either. When she realised Cher wasn't listening, Imani followed her eyes before scoffing when she locked eyes with me.

She began to snap in Cher's face to get her attention, but Cher merely brushed her hand away before walking away from her and towards me. She was cut short by the loud alarm that signalled the door being flung open and the embarrassed couple walking out of it.

Both looked beyond satisfied and almost giddily happy. The girl seemed even more embarrassed, as her hair was significantly fluffier and her clothes slightly dishevelled, but no one believed her coy behaviour anymore. The excitement was contagious, and more people joined in for the next round, so I could hardly see between the bodies anymore.

I got myself two drinks between the next four rounds and now on the fifth one, I was almost aloof grabbing the card, thinking that the odds had to have been stacked against me. All the alcohol dropped from my body with a single breath when I flipped over the card and saw the shiny black symbol on it.

Before I could even process it, someone behind me snatched it from my hands and shot their hand in the air. "We have an Ace!" the excited girl screeched, pointing at me when people's heads turned to look.

My head snapped to give her the nastiest look, but she didn't even flinch, a glint of shiny gold flashing over her eyes as she passed the dreaded card back to me. "Lucky you," she whispered before shoving me down the line of people who had already begun to make way for me.